THIS POEM ISN'T GOING TO SOLVE THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE CRISIS

by Shannon Frost Greenstein

Death and suffering in Gaza. Cartoon by Marilena Nardi.

I believe in a Free Palestine. 

 

Wait, hold on… that wasn’t how I wanted to start at all. 

 

This poem isn’t going to solve the Middle East peace crisis. 

 

Well, that’s hardly any better, but what I’m really trying to say is,

I love my Jewish husband. 

 

I love my sweet, supportive, circumcised Jewish husband,

and I love his family, 

and I love their families, 

all of whom accepted a shiksa who adores Christmas

right into their homes; right into their tribe. 

 

But I believe in a Free Palestine. 

 

And I am the first to acknowledge that I know absolutely nothing

about the epigenetic trauma of being Jewish; 

after all, my people have always tended to do more of the oppressing.

I cannot speak to the experience of a Holocaust 

or to the damage that comes from being hated and hunted

for 3,000 years in a row. 

 

But I believe in a Free Palestine. 

 

So when my husband and I sit down

to discuss Gaza and the Nova Festival and all of the starving babies—

the horror and the suffering and all of the fear—we do not always see eye to eye. 

 

And if we have issues discussing human rights and geopolitics and the existence of war crimes, 

you can just imagine how family dinners at my in-laws’ get.

 

I am a mother and a pacifist, at the end of the day, 

with too much empathy 

and an unfinished Ph.D. regarding the philosophical nature of ethics;

I like it best when everyone just gets along.

But I also believe in a Free Palestine

while simultaneously attempting to respect my Jewish husband’s heritage 

and that is apparently an untenable position in which to be.

 

This poem isn’t going to solve the Middle East peace crisis. 

 

But maybe it will alleviate some tension in my marriage. 

Shannon Frost Greenstein (She/They) is the author of Through the Lens of Time, a forthcoming fiction collection with Thirty West Publishing. She is a former Ph.D. candidate in Continental Philosophy and a multi-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Follow Shannon on Twitter at @ShannonFrostGre. Insta: @zarathustra_speaks

SIGNPOSTS IN DANTE’S ECOLOGICAL HELL

by Richard L. Matta

Illustration by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

third climate opinion—

the surgeon says

why did you wait so long

winnowing wheat

a merchant trades

for a farmer’s daughter

bulldozed forest…

a herd of cars running

at the burger joint

oil and gas

a lobbyist drills 

for a politician 

water rations

a city meeting 

boils over

flame throwers—

a spirit departs 

from a scorched tree 

one more war crime

the drone creates 

a poisonous cloud

a disposal contractor

doubles his profit

leaking drums wetland

mineral reserves

one more leader leaves

a pit in Africa

Richard L. Matta grew up in New York and now lives in San Diego. Some of his work is found in Ancient Paths, Dewdrop, San Pedro River Review, Third Wednesday, Gyroscope, and many international haiku journals.

AFTER WATCHING FRONTLINE'S "PUTIN'S ATTACK ON UKRAINE: DOCUMENTING WAR CRIMES"

by Nan Ottenritter

 

Ukrainians walk through Bucha,

unearth, document, store, and ship bodies,

I cry, wonder why, and

 

how such happens. Let’s be honest.

 

I’ve not seen destruction drop from the air,

roll through streets, hide in forests,

root out the hidden in basements.

 

Deadly games of evil and armaments, and

crimes against humanity were addressed at

the Nuremberg Trials.

 

Where are the guardrails now? Let’s be honest.

 

If families flee, suitcase in one hand, child and dog in the other,

grandmas brave cold subway station nights,

white-garbed men count bodies, and

an every-person inspires and leads his country, then

 

surely we can figure this out.

Nan Ottenritter lives and writes in Richmond, VA. Her first chapbook Eleanor, Speak is available from Finishing Line Press.

NOW THAT HE'S HAD A TASTE OF WAR

by Joan Mazza

Trump's reelection campaign is fundraising off Soleimani's killing. —Yahoo! News, January 8, 2020

He pats himself on the back for the drone
strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.
We got him! he brags at another rally,
smirks while his supporters cheer, eager
for the blood of brown-skinned people.
He calls them scum, terrorists, animals,
as he called Mexicans rapists and murderers.

The old playbook is wide open, rage
fueling rage, war and more war. Poor boys
fed into the machine return in body bags
with flags. He promises to bomb cultural
heritage sites like the Golestan Palace,
or Persepolis first looted by Alexander
the Great, or Pasargadae from 600 BCE—

meaningless places for an egomaniac sans
empathy, ethics, or education. The only
sites he cares about are those he owns,
those that make money, with his name
in giant gold letters across the façade.
Would the beauty of mosques with tile
mosaics or gardens move a man who lacks

feelings for the children he separated
from parents? Nothing will pierce the heart
of a man who always gets what he wants,
who suffers no consequences for fraud
and cheating. The laws of war and human
decency do not apply to him. He’ll take
a bit of purple rubble as a memento.

Joan Mazza has worked as a medical microbiologist, psychotherapist, seminar leader, and she is the author of six self-help psychology books, including Dreaming Your Real Self (Penguin/Putnam). Her poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Rattle, Valparaiso Poetry Review, The MacGuffin, Prairie Schooner (forthcoming), and The Nation. She lives in rural central Virginia, where she writes a poem every day and is working on a memoir.

ALEPPO

by George Salamon





Wretched Aleppo,
Bereaved by death
Who grants no audience
To human flesh
As humanity prepares
Another feast for death.
After Auschwitz it  was said
"No more poetry."
After Aleppo, I say
More poetry to instill
Reverence for flesh
Sacrificed for evil vapors and whims.

George Salamon grew up in Europe during the slaughter of World War Two and now, from his home in St. Louis MO, reads about and looks at pictures from man's latest crimes against humanity in Aleppo.

EXTREMISM

by Charles Frederickson & Saknarin Chinayote

Whose world is it anyway
Borderless planet flooded azure blue
No deity superior to all
Others praying to whichever listens

Unalterable creed makes tenets sacrosanct
Feminine sexuality emancipating driven women
Barbaric uncivil wrongs ignorance barbarism
Detrimental to everything save war

Universe of pure unadulterated hatred
Without knowing or understanding why
Dogma forced down parched throats
No violent intolerant extreme endures

Faceless weak narrow-minded trapdoor
Freedom of speech slammed shut
Censored opinions intent on recreating
World in own perverted image

Medieval mindsets dominating modern crusade
Bent distorted time-bomb warps confusing
Madness with mission malignant stupidity
Uncommon cause War Crimes Inquisition

Our real enemy is fanaticism
Duped by superstitions rumors black-and-blue lies
Imposing domination controlling underlings’ Fate
Stifling creative freedom of expression


No Holds Bard Dr. Charles Frederickson and Mr. Saknarin Chinayote proudly present YouTube mini-movies @ YouTube – CharlesThai1 

WHAT DOES THE TRUTH MATTER?!

by The Bangkok Bards Charles Frederickson & Saknarin Chinayote

Whose fault is it anyway?
Pledging allegiance to whatever flag
Unfurls condemned property claims dismissed
Blame endgame pawns checkmating kings

Rockabye cradle of civilization treetops
Humanimals disappearing from soiled earth
Desert rats replaced by insects
Aphid borer bugs worms beetles

Emerald green caterpillars metamorphosis curtailed
Short-horned grasshoppers exodus flights cancelled
Nomads stripping crops infesting fields
Nymphs form bands adults swarms

Murky often contradictory mixed messages
False pretences invasion propaganda vilified
Imperial superpowers’ vacuum cause uprooted
Both sides conducting war crimes

Oily motives struggling to control
Corrupt harsh authorities brutal regimes
Military contracts favor wealthy elite
Convoluted natural resources geopolitical biases

Global financial crisis youth unemployment
Rising costs of living dangerously
Major ethnic religious faction confrontations
Plentiful share never quite enough

WHOSE WORLD IS IT ANYWAY?!

No Holds Bard Dr. Charles Frederickson and Mr. Saknarin Chinayote proudly present YouTube mini-movies @ YouTube – CharlesThai1 .